Random Weekend...

Just some random thoughts...

I sure appreciate all the comments on my last post. Please remember that until Blogger gets their stuff together you just have to click through my archives. I like google reader, but I really think it makes certain things impersonal. It's great for following a cooking blog, but not so much for the blogs of your friends and family. Isn't that sort of what blogging is about? A community? Everything is so fast paced today and here we are not able to call or write to keep in touch like we would like, and now we don't even take the time to be in touch much at all. Don't get me wrong, I think technology is great; I wouldn't be able to do half the thing I do in such a small community and school that I do without it, but I think it's important that we don't forget about true human contact (or at least the best we can do). Afterall, most of us are already half-way across a continent from one another...

On that note - Rumba is officially 10 days over the average due date and all previous observations with her last pregnancy are out the window. It's making me crazy too...I'm losing all sorts of sleep checking

So it's been a mild winter here in the SLV. We typically get a bit of wet snow in March, but it's been beautiful so far; warm and sunny. And then I woke up Friday morning:

And it snowed. A LOT! And the plow seemed to forget that people lived out my way...

And it DRIFTED! A LOT!

And all the animals are super confused because they thought we were done with this too...

And Wrigley got to break out his winter coat again...though he'd prefer to stay inside...

Seriously?!

Ok - I'm going to rant. Namely because what happened yesterday put me in a horrible mood - and then that gets me thinking about other stuff that irks me off as well.

For starters...I started blogging to keep in touch with my college friends back home. I miss you all. I miss not being able to attend your weddings, play with your babies, hang out and just get girl-time... I miss not having the gals to confide in and impromptu bottles of wine with you... I miss being able to relax and having people know who I am and love me for who I am...Bottom Line: I miss you guys and I purposely make sure that when I sit down and blog I am leaving little messages and comments for you all so you know that I'm still here and alive and care about your lives and families and woes and whatever! Randi and I had a talk about this and she feels the same way...

I would love comments on my photography! About my milestones and adventures! Advice, support, questions? A few of you stike up e-mail conversations with me from time to time and I LOVE IT! Seriously, ask Randi - I think my phone rang ONCE the whole week she was here. You guys remind me the outside world exists and it keeps me sane.

Other than a few of you who consistently leave me comments, do the rest of you care? You're all my lifeline to who I am. I think I have blog friends who follow me and know more about my life than some of you who have spent years with me. I love it out here, but I'm still building relationships (and it's hard to do in such an isolated spot) and not only do I miss all you gals, but you have no idea what it means to me to know that my friends care and are interested in my life. I'm not some Neanderthal striking rocks to start a fire each night! I'm using both my degrees, working hard and doing the best I can to build a little bit of my dream all the time. It's a hard go at it alone and knowing that some of you are interested in what I'm up to give me that much confidence to keep plowing ahead. I'm am human afterall...

What set me off in the first place:

Dear student who broke into the school through my room (and yes, we KNOW it was a student),

Do you seriously think you are going to get away with this? The fact you broke in through my room window, but left my two laptops sitting where I left them, does not negate in my mind that I am INVOLVED! I AM taking this personally. I realize you probably left my computers alone because you know I would line up all suspects and torture you all for information, that and maybe a yearbook wouldn't get published and you wouldn't be immortalized in print forever, but that doesn't excuse your actions. Going through the next classrooms adjoining door and stealing his computer, breaking into the office and stealing keys, messing with another computer lab, and stealing two other laptops is a felony. We have our eye on you, and I have never hoped more than now that there are students out there that follow this particular blog - especially you. Watch your back, because I will be sure there are charges pressed and you are old enough to be charged as an adult.

Your extremely pissed off teacher

The Week in Pictures

Can you all see my blog now without going through the archives?

Rumba Update: NO BABY!!!!! She's going to explode and is really cranky. Randi and I got to watch baby kicking the crap out of mom from the inside.

So as many of you know my friend Randi came to visit over break! We did SOOOOO much! We put a little over 1000 miles on the truck just tooling all over!

This is a rundown of the week in pictures:

Sunday: Randi's arrival and Blanca Wetlands (we also hiked to the top of the Hot Springs to soak at night.

Monday: Worked horses and drove Maggie. Then hiked up to Zapata Falls and took the dogs for a run on the sand dunes. The falls were frozen and both Randi and I had a few spills!

The colt I'm working

The dogs looking out through the hike into the falls

Dogs playing in the creek at the dunes

Tuesday: Skied Wolf Creek and soaked in the local Hooper hot pools



Wednesday: Worked horses again and introduced Maggie to a cart! Randi hopped on a huge old Belgium to warm up for riding later! Took Maggie and Charlie out to the sand dunes for Randi's first horseback ride ever!


Thursday: Skied Monarch Mountain!
Friday: Drove out to Creede and went shopping after driving through the mountains and checking out the old mines! Great clearance sales!

Look what I made Randi buy!

Look what Randi made me buy! I feel like the abominable snowman!

Randi had to go home Saturday and missed out on the cattle drive, but here's a pic of me with a newborn calf that crawled under a semi truck to try and take a nap! She got to ride with me but pee on my leg.

Also - I bought a few replacement chicks for the ones I lost! When I stopped by the feed store the other day they had baby ducks and I couldn't resist...they're so cute and fuzzy!

I AM Domesticated...I Swear!

This is going to be the start of a chapter in the "Book of my Life" that I really am going to write one day...

It was a Friday evening like any other; gathered up down the road with a few friends to share our weekly pitfalls over a beer or two. My girlfriend Charla had a few of her cousins visiting and as we all caught up and met one another it came out that the eldest, Jackie, is a lesbian. She's rather comfortable with the fact, though she really doesn't fit the profile I always thought - butch and manly. Instead, Jackie is slender and willow-like with long ash-blond hair. She's also extremely musically talented and she and her uncle broke out the guitars as the night went on.

We all were listening to them play and sing when suddenly it occurred to meet Jackie kept looking at me as she played...
"hmmmm...no WAY!" I thought; as she did it again, and again...suddenly I found myself trying to find anywhere else to look...

Yuppers...Jackie thinks I'm cute. Not that I have anything against lesbians, but well, I just don't swing that way. Why couldn't Charla's cousin be a nice heterosexual male? I swear I was having Brigit Jones flashbacks...

Anywho - thought you all needed a laugh - and here's the project that kicked off my Spring Break this last Thursday:

Last Friday I received a call from a friend who mother-in-law works at the local college library. They are redecorating and had tables and chairs to give away. Knowing I needed a kitchen table and chairs they thought of me! The catch? I had to re-upholster the chairs if I didn't want the retro 70's orange dayglo colors screaming out at me each morning. This is the first time I ever re-upholstered, but I think I did a good job!

Before:

After:

I found the cutest western fabric, but it was $13/yard and there was this other stuff for $2/yard and it was super heavy - so $39 vs. $6 project? The $6 won, and I bought some super cute table cloths and placemats to brighten it all up! Bunni has approved and somewhat matched the decor...

Happy, Happy Monday!

Do you ever hear me say that?!!!

The first thing I learned this morning was that school has been cancelled for Thursday and Friday due to the plethora of students that will be at both Science Fair and State Basketball. YEAH!!! I get to start spring break 2 days early!!!

This is good as the other English Teacher has been canned ( I believe, but am not 100% sure, she did something really, really bad) and now I have to help with lessons for the substitute until the end of the year. Does it even end in my world? At least I get a quicker respite this week!!!

Very windy this weekend! But I still went out and started the colt I have as a side job for a neighbor and brought Maggie out to drive! She was fantastic and took the harness without any issues. She also had no problems ground driving in it (as I ground drive her often in a surcingle) and took the tire without any issue as well:

She would take our standing on the tire for a bit, but then was confused at the change in weight and would pause before moving on. That's fine though as I won't be using her to pull, just drive. We'll have another lesson next week.

I also have been following through with my photography as promised. I really need to start harnessing my inner creativity. I used to do all sorts of things and have been published numerous times. It's time I found myself with this all again:

Cinnamon Sticks GUEST GROSGRAIN GIVEAWAY!!!!

Cinnamon Sticks GUEST GROSGRAIN GIVEAWAY!!!!

What a simplistic but fantastic idea!!!

The Fast and The Furious

I'm not repressed, I swear. I just loved the first Fast and Furious movie. The second sucked and the third was kinda cool to watch, but what happened to the cast of the first one that made it so great?

Hehehehehe - another movie is going to be released in a month with the original cast...

I love Vin Diesel.

Paul Walker isn't that too bad on the eyes either, but I'm a Vin Diesel type of girl. I mean seriously, with that name, and that body? Mmmmmmmm....I can't explain it. It's not my fault; it's like some basic animal instinctual thing.

That and I have a penchant for very fast little cars. Combined I could stay entranced for hours...I just want to reach out and touch. Ya know?

My city girl has to come out occasionally.

April 3rd cannot get here fast enough, and if I have to go watch the movie in the theatre by myself I will (but I'm going to do my best to get a date).

I'll be drafting an ad for that date this week...I'd prefer if he looked like Mr. Diesel.

Contest with a Givaway!!!!

Dear readers, I feel you are bored with my posts. I very rarely have many comments. This is my social network! I hope I have not peeved you off in any way. If I have, tough. But here's a fun contest I've been meaning to post for awhile and I hope this makes up for my boring, everyday life.

WE ARE EXPECTING!

Bet that caught some attention eh? No, not me. That requires a man remember, and I don't have one, but Daddy Chex (aka Rumba, the dancing queen) is! This is my fantastic Appendix bred horse that has become a wonderful brood mare due to her penchant to break in half when I ride her. It's said letting them have a foal calms them down and it's extremely true in this situation. In fact, she's so mellow, and since I have plenty of other horses, Rumba is now the perfect mother.

Background Info:

For those of you unfamiliar with horses and their gestation periods, here is a run down of a 'textbook' pregnancy. A mare is pregnant for an average of 340 days. It is not unusual, however, for a mare to foal as early as 300 days, or as late as 370 days. I even know someone who's horse went to day 402 with no problems!

During the last two weeks of pregnancy, the mare's belly will typically appear to drop and then look smaller as the foal gets into a birthing position during the last week. The muscles around her tail will begin to relax also as muscles begin to anticipate the future stretching during birth. Occasionally the tail will 'twitch' to the side as well. Her bag will begin to fill, more full during the night, and drying up a little during the day as she is more active. Within the last 48 hours before foaling the bag will stay full, and waxing often will begin to occur. This is when droplets of milk and colostrum form a waxing covering on the end of each teat. Every mare is different though, so all of the above may be observed or not. Mare's often show signs of discomfort, sweating and kicking or biting at their sides as they go into early stages of labor. A large percentage of foals are born in the early morning hours.

What I already know:

Rumba was pasture bred with her previous foal, so I did not have a good due date - but from what I did know is she was average, probably foaling between day 335 and 350.

I saw little evidence of her milk coming in until the last few days, and her bag was never completely full until she actually foaled. There was, however, a little waxing the night before.

She showed signs of discomfort the evening before and though her belly had done the classic drop and suck back up, she dropped extremely low the night before, and her muscles were extremely relaxed around her tail.

Her foal was born between 3 and 5:30 am.

She was bred April 12th - 15th, 2008 with this foal. If you calculate from that last day bred (assuming that's the day she became pregnant and not on day 1) day 340 would be March 20th, 2009.

Her belly is incredibly distended and hanging very low. She dropped this last weekend after I moved her into a better pasture for foaling.

I see no sign of any milk coming down.

"What? Are you talking about me?"

What you need to do:

1 - Pick her due date!

2 - Pick a time period (12am - 6am; 6am- 12pm; 12pm-6pm; 6pm-12am) when you think she will foal!

To get you started this is what I think - March 18th @ 12am to 6am - but I am not counting myself as part of the contest, so don't worry!

I will be giving away something fun to the winner! I've been trying to be creative lately so maybe perhaps I will make you something!

If you are a reader of my blog, but aren't a blogger, just e-mail me your answers and I'll post them for you!

I will keep the contest open until the end of next week as I'm going on Spring Break and probably won't be checking or updating the blog during the week of her anticipated due date. As soon as I'm back around a computer I'll give you all an update!

Sunday Laundry Shirt Dress GIVEAWAY!!!!

Sunday Laundry Shirt Dress GIVEAWAY!!!!

I am in LOVE with this dress! I want to win it!!!!
If you've never checked out this site before do so - this woman is amazing!

Good Day Sunshine

Oh My God was the weather beautiful this weekend. I mean tank top, soak in some sun, enjoy the great outdoors, beautiful!!!

Sorry no pics from this all as I was WAY TOO BUSY enjoying it!!!!

Quick run down of the weekend:

Friday Night - Enjoyed some liquid refreshments at my girlfriend's house. It was EXACTLY what I needed after the busy week I had!

Saturday - Was up early! Made breakfast for my friends at above mentioned girlfriend's house, cleaned out my chicken coop, discovered they had been laying WAAAAAYYYY up in the corner and had to toss a bunch of rock hard frozen eggs out (but yeah! they are laying again!!!), re-stretched my fences and saddled up Charlie.

Ponied Rebel out to my neighbor's field since we decided we needed to catch that pesky cow with the wire and rope wrapped around her leg. Loped around a bit looking for her, got her spotted, made a loop in my rope and cut her out...Charlie was doing great tracking her when I finally saw my opening. As she cut to the right I reached and threw the rope - exactly at the same time Charlie decided he didn't want to do this anymore and took the bit, ducked his head and gave a tremendous buck. I landed on the saddle horn and as he left the ground again I baled off since I was practically laying on his neck. I swear my brain hit my skull. Of course he just stood there so after we had a little 'talk' I got back after that cow and he was awesome. We've been having some bit issues and I really need to try something new - now. At least according to my still black and blue pelvis and inner thigh...and the whiplash....and sore shoulder where I slammed into the ground.

I basically was out for the rest of the day after we caught the cow and got the stuff off her legs. Obviously she could still run. By the way - I had to turn Charlie over to my neighbor after I threw and missed about 4 times. By then the stupid cow was just barely trotting around and it still took him 6 tries. BUT he complimented how awesome Charlie was! So I don't know what his big problem was. Maybe he was just feeling like he had to try and test me or something.

Sunday - Ground drove Maggie as she's going to learn to pull a cart next week! Took the dogs out, moved the mares to pasture so Rumba can get comfortable with it before she foals, and brought in a colt to work for my neighbor.

At 7:30, as I was getting out of a long needed shower my Carbon Monoxide detector went off. Huh? I re-set it and waited and sure enough, 4 minutes later is started to sound again so I called the Fire department and asked them to come check my levels. When I called the Realtors they said they'd had some faulty ones and to follow up with them. Well, I had CO in the house from that hot water heater that keeps blowing out. I keep in on low, but when I had turned it up, the exhaust is not drafting correctly and the levels were extremely high. The good thing is when I keep it closed up I have no raised levels in the house, the other good thing is it's getting fixed today.

Look for an upcoming contest!!!!